Chapter 30: Chapter 29: A drop of time fills the basin of life, yet the cup is dry.

Teamwork is the most important thing inside of a dungeon.

You might be some powerful hotshot who thinks that you can just grind it out alone with enough piss and vinegar. But what will your plan be when the dungeon fields an encounter that requires cooperation to complete? What if you find a timed mechanic that requires that two people be at different locations? What if you overestimate yourself and bite off more than you can chew in a fight?

Having a competent party is the most important factor in a person’s chance of survival in a dungeon. It is more important than any other factor.

Give me a true hero, summoned by the gods at the maximum level, one-hundred, and send him into a dungeon alone. Then, give me a fussy group of random level forties from a seedy guild and a week to let them build some spirit with each other.

— You know who I think will make it through that dungeon?

The party. It’s not a contest.

Adventuring parties play off of each other. They are singular pieces that construct a robust, environmentally responsive organism. People in small groups of three to six, which are the standard ranges for an adventuring party to consist of, are far more adaptable, competent and consistent than groups of any other size, larger or smaller. People have a way of holding each other accountable down in those dark places. They have a way of pressing off of each other, combining their skills and talents into unique combinations that most dungeons simply can’t calculate against.

A dungeon-core knows how to deal with a single fire-caster, off on his own in the hole.

What a dungeon-core isn’t prepared for is when that fire-caster teams up with a monk, with fire-resistant skin. Or when a lightning and a water caster team up to electrify entire floors at once. Or when an archer and a battle-alchemist team up, to make highly volatile, high-speed explosive projectiles in the middle of a fight.

You aren’t just safer in a party.

You’re stronger in it too.